Michael Owen says he has positive memories of his first season with Manchester United, despite it ending in injury. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Michael Owen sits in an office block on an industrial estate near Stockport talking fluently about England's 2018 World Cup bid, the thrill of playing for Sir Alex Ferguson and the increasing pull exerted by football management. Overhead comes a repeated drone from jet engines preparing to land at Manchester airport. If Owen gets his wish, similar flights arriving in eight years' time will be packed with football's global glitterati but, right now, aeroplanes merely offer wistful reminders of precisely what he is missing out on.

Springtime hamstring surgery not only kiboshed the striker's hopes of securing a last-minute seat on England's South Africa-bound Virgin Atlantic Airbus but dictated that Owen's summer must be spent largely in Manchester United's gym. Although he is well on course to be fully fit by August, respite will merely comprise a short-haul trip to Portugal. "Hopefully the physios will allow me two weeks' holiday," says a man forever synonymous with France '98 and thatstrike against Argentina.

Goals followed to such an extent that an England team without Owen still does not seem quite right. "Not being in South Africa will be strange," he admitted. "I've been involved in our last five major tournaments and, even if I haven't played internationally for the last year or two, I still feel part of it all, I'm still mates with the lads."

Almost imperceptibly, Wayne Rooney has taken his place in England's pantheon. "Outside his family I'm probably as pleased for what Wayne's achieved as anyone, he's a genuinely cracking lad," Owen says. "It's a bit strange because Wayne tells me that during France '98 he was about 12 and playing in his back garden pretending he was me. But watching his progression is almost as exciting as doing it yourself."

Strikers are famously selfish but turning 30 has seen Owen embrace what he terms "a bigger picture" and explains why management might yet beckon. Nothing is definite but the dug-out offers an intriguing option. "If you'd ask me about management five years ago, I'd have said: 'No chance,'" he said. "But I've started doing my coaching badges now so I'm on a rung of the ladder which would indicate I'm half thinking about it."

He eagerly engages coaches in tactical debate these days, with Glenn Roeder – one of his seven managers during a chaotic four-year stint at Newcastle – among those he regularly chats to. "As you get older you start thinking about why and how managers do things," he says. "I find it all really, really interesting. That's why I started my coaching badges." Who knows where they could carry him by 2018. "I might be managing England by then," says Owen, laughing. "Nah, I'll only be 38, too young."

Flashes of understated humour punctuate his conversation but he is deadly serious when it comes to England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup and this week could be found helping his sponsor, Umbro, an official partner of the bid, launch an online video campaign to get the nation behind it. The only shame is that the demands of Owen's day job at United leave him unable to deploy his persuasive articulacy in an even higher profile role. "There's nothing quite like a World Cup," he says. "To bring it to our country would be such a big lifetime event. In terms of the economy, of tourism, the spin-offs would be endless. It's time we got it again. We've got a great combination of fantastic stadiums and great atmosphere from a passionate population of football lovers. So many things are in place."

Some believe a few careless, covertly recorded, whispers from Lord Triesman could jeopardise this vision. "Clearly that was a step back," says Owen. "But you have your ups and downs in everything. We've still got time to push on and win."

England's bid also boasts David Beckham's victory salvaging potential and Owen believes his erstwhile England team-mate can eclipse another David's idiocy: "He's done fantastic work. If we do happen to win 2018 we might need to give David Beckham a pat on the back."

The same is true at Old Trafford, where Ferguson rode to Owen's rescue in the aftermath of an unhappy, injury-dogged stint at Newcastle.

"Playing for Sir Alex is almost like winning a trophy," he says. "You're always on your toes, always looking to impress, the manager's got that aura. The great thing about United is the standard is so high. At other places you can almost feel your performance dipping but being among such high quality your standards can only rise. If they don't you won't survive. In every training session you're always stretching yourself to be as good as everyone else."

United were not quite good enough to seize the biggest European and domestic prizes this season but might it have been different had Owen stayed fit? "I'd love to have been around for the run-in," he says. "Whether I'd have made any difference we'll never know."

Happily, regret did not dominate his inaugural Old Trafford campaign. "Scoring a hat-trick in the Champions League at Wolfsburg was a highlight," he says. "Scoring the winner against Manchester City was fantastic, scoring in the League Cup final was great. I was fit and available for 33 games so, no, I don't feel cursed."

Michael Owen is getting behind England 2018 by supporting the online video campaign "I'm In" created by Umbro, who are an official partner for the bid. The campaign will see celebrities and members of the public voice create 18-second videos telling the world why they backing the bid. To see the videos or post your own visit umbro.com

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About this article

Michael Owen the England outsider entertains thoughts of management

This article appeared on p7 of the Sport section of the Guardian
on Friday 21 May 2010.
It was published on
the Guardian website
at 19.27 EDT on Friday 21 May 2010.
It was last modified at 18.21 EDT on Monday 19 May 2014.
It was first published at 19.07 EDT on Friday 21 May 2010.